Nicholas II abdicated seven days after the 1917 Petrograd women’s demonstrations began. The protests started on 23 February in Russia’s Julian calendar, corresponding to 8 March in the Gregorian calendar, and the tsar abdicated on 2 March Julian, or 15 March Gregorian.
The demonstrations began on International Women’s Day amid wartime shortages, long bread queues, inflation, and growing anger over Russia’s participation in the First World War. Women textile workers in Petrograd went on strike and marched with demands associated with bread, peace, and political change.
The unrest rapidly spread as other workers joined, soldiers refused to suppress the crowds, and the capital’s military garrison began to mutiny. Nicholas II was away at military headquarters and lost the support of senior generals, who concluded that abdication was necessary to restore order.
The abdication ended more than three centuries of Romanov rule, although Nicholas initially attempted to pass the throne to his brother Michael. Michael declined to accept it without a national decision, and the monarchy effectively collapsed. The date conversion is a frequent source of confusion because Russia still used the Julian calendar in 1917.